


Decaffeinated

by JAStitches



Series: Heart of the Home: Tales From the Kitchen [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Good News Always Comes Over Coffee, Heart-to-Heart, Motivational Speeches, Multi, No One Likes Decaf, Polyamorous Team STRQ
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 16:34:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11085564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JAStitches/pseuds/JAStitches
Summary: Summer decides that all it takes to get people talking is a little switch in the coffee lineup.





	Decaffeinated

The warm, heavy aroma of freshly-brewed coffee hung in the air, mingling somehow beautifully with the light scent of muffins and biscuits cooling on the counter, and the sweet smell of something else still baking in the oven. The morning sun filtered lazily in through the windows of the small kitchen, turning the trees outside nearly gold. The early frost had almost disappeared from the glass, just lingering around the edges of the pane behind the drawn-back curtains, with their little pictures of cooking tools on the cream-colored fabric.

A small woman in a black dress, layered over with a white apron painstakingly embroidered with a red rose outline on the little right pocket, stood in front of the coffee pot, holding a mug painted with watercolor roses. Five spoonfuls of sugar were added to the mug, on top of the generous amount of cream that she'd added already to her coffee. Her bare feet tapped, skin-on-wood, quietly against the floor as she approached the kitchen table.

Summer Rose settled at the table with her cup of coffee in hand. Decaf didn't exactly do it for her, or for any of them, so she needed all the sugar she could get. Maybe if she didn't tell the boys, they wouldn't even notice the difference in the coffee. It was more cruel to Taiyang than anything; he had enough trouble getting up even with a strong hit of caffeine to help him out.

She stirred in her sugar with a quiet yawn, before taking a long sip from the cup. Hopefully, Qrow would come downstairs first, and she'd be able to talk to him one-on-one about her... situation... before Taiyang even woke up. That was how it went most mornings: she or Qrow would get up first, and Taiyang often didn't get up until the baby did. He was entirely on her schedule, despite Summer and Qrow being almost equally involved in taking care of her.

... Good practice, it seemed.

Baby Yang was just over a year old now, and despite being as blonde as her father, looked so much like her mother that sometimes it even hurt them all to look at her. She wasn't talking yet, but she did point at things. She also loved to grab and throw anything and everything, especially toys, and loved to beat on things with her tiny fists. She'd already torn Qrow's cape a few times trying to grab him or keep him from walking away from wherever she happened to be. He actually now made it a point not to wear it when he would be babysitting.

Summer, like Qrow, and especially Taiyang, loved her to pieces.

The opening of the front door, and then footsteps coming inside, caused her to look up toward the man who entered the kitchen. His shoes tracked faint prints on the floor, and his dark red cape fluttered very slightly behind him as he walked. Gray buttonfront and black pants looking clean and fresh, Qrow Branwen seemed anything but groggy. In fact, it looked as though he'd been up for several hours already, clearly long enough to take a walk. That, of course, didn't stop him from making a beeline for the coffee as soon as he smelled it, and pouring a generous mugful before leaning on the counter to drink it. It was, to him, less to wake up and more because it was there.

"Good morning," Summer greeted pleasantly, holding up her mug before Qrow had raised his to drink. "Care to join me at the table like an adult?"

Qrow grinned a little goofily at her, but did cross to sit down across from her at the table. He glanced toward the oven with a raised eyebrow. "Are you baking something?"

"Yeah, apple bread. It's the first chance I've had to bake since you came home, and I know you like autumn food."

"Aw, that's really sweet."

"I thought you'd like it." She took a drink out of her cup, hiding her expression of distaste as she did. "I'll make real breakfast when Tai wakes up, but for now, we also have apple muffins, pumpkin muffins, and biscuits. The muffins are for later, though."

"You know you can't tell me not to eat something and expect me to actually not eat it."

"Sirena and the girls are stopping over, they're coming off a two-week Search and Destroy and they're gonna stay the night here to recover before they head home. Regalia was in pretty bad shape when I talked to her, and she said she was the best off of them. I think she said Sirena full-on aura-broke and still hasn't gotten back up to combat-ready. So you can bet we're feeding them so much before they leave."

"Oh. Well, it'll be nice to see them. And between you and Tai, I'm sure they'll leave with more leftovers than they know what to do with. Be feeding those girls for a week at least." Qrow finally took his first real sip of coffee, making a face. "... What is this, decaf?"

"... Actually, yeah," she confessed. In hindsight, maybe it was a little too optimistic to hope that Qrow, at least, wouldn't notice. He was far pickier about his coffee than Taiyang was. "I thought maybe cutting down on caffeine would be a good idea right now."

"Why's that?"

She had to come right out and say it. There was no use in skirting around it, and there was really no reason to do so anyway. "Because pregnant women shouldn't drink a lot of caffeine."

Qrow spluttered a little into his mug, keeping the dark ceramic close to his face to spare Summer the sight of seeing him spit coffee everywhere. Once he set the mug down, he coughed several times, smacking the center of his chest with his fist until he could speak. "... What?"

"... I'm pregnant, Qrow."

"... Congratulations. How far are you?"

"... Almost two months."

"Does Tai know?"

"Not yet, no. Why?"

"... Isn't it his?"

"... You and I were coming off of a weeklong Village Security mission together two months ago. We stayed in an inn on the mainland before coming home. We were in Vale for an extra two weeks because you wanted to do touristy stuff to recover from all that."

Qrow, it seemed, had nothing to say. They stared each other down for a solid minute or so in complete silence, before the team leader sighed and fixed him with a stare rivaled in intensity only by the normal gaze of his twin sister. She set her coffee cup down. "I thought you'd be more excited to hear that you're going to be a father."

"I... Summer... I-I don't know if that's... A good idea..."

"... It's a little late now."

"I'm never around, I'm not... Tai's way more stable..."

"Stability doesn't really have anything to do with fertility, now does it?" She picked up her coffee cup, taking a small sip and making a face as the reality that was the decaf inside struck her again. It didn't even taste that different to her, she just hated the fact that she had no choice in the matter of her coffee for the next nine months. "I thought we all decided that we were going to raise kids together, as a family. What happened with Raven didn't change that."

"... Tai did say he's still not really sure about the whole monogamy thing, especially after what happened..."

Summer laughed good-naturedly. "None of us are. Or did you forget your little 'welcome home' that Tai planned for you when you got home the other day?"

Qrow went red, messing up the back of his hair. "... Nope. Haven't forgotten that."

"Good, means we did our jobs."

"We're not calling that the Bedroom Beowolf, are we? Because you know Tai needs to slap a label on everything."

"Don't be crass." She stood up, crossing around to Qrow's side of the table and sitting on the edge of it just beside him. "... And don't change the subject. Tai doesn't have a problem with Yang growing up with a... 'Different kind of family,' he says. I don't either. And they do say it takes a village to raise a child. Weren't you and Raven raised by a group too?"

His face darkened, his jaw setting. His upbringing was always a sore spot, one that Summer didn't touch if she could avoid it. "Yeah, and look how we turned out."

"... Well, one of you turned out wonderfully. And you're the one who's going to help raise Yang and this baby." She reached down, plucking his hands off of the table and clasping them between her own. "So, I think they'll turn out just fine."

Qrow looked away from her, though he let her take his hands. "... I... I don't want to hurt anyone, Summer. The kids, Tai, or you."

Summer sighed, petting his hair with one hand. "You know that I'm going to say that you've never hurt us, and I don't think you ever will. I respect that you're scared, Qrow. You already keep your distance from us. I understand that. And I understand why. I always have. You know that."

"Then why are we even--"

"But." Summer was very careful when she spoke over him; it was something Raven had always done. But this was different. This was to keep his head straight, not because she didn't care what he had to say. "I think you'll be a wonderful father, Qrow. I want you in our lives. So does Tai. And so will Yang and the baby."

"Do you," Qrow replied flatly. "Because I think I've done enough damage to this family."

"What are you talking about? You're not the one who left, Raven is."

"Yeah, but what do you think made her leave?"

"... We're not doing this today Qrow. We've been over this." Summer hopped down off of the table, crouching beside Qrow's chair to stare directly into his eyes. "You are not the reason Raven left. She left because she wanted to, and none of us could've stopped her if we tried. You're better than your sister. Don't abandon your child."

"She's been exposed to my semblance all our lives," he retaliated, seeming to ignore the last thing she said. "And you and Tai've been dealing with it since school. What if it was just playing a long game?"

"Semblances aren't people, Qrow, they can't 'play' any kind of games. As for your sister, you weren't even around when she left. There's no possible way that you caused her to leave."

"But what if--"

Across the room, a wooden shelf creaked and came loose from the wall, interrupting Qrow's next argument by causing both of them to turn toward the sound. The three ceramic pots in which their depleted supply of flour was stored, as well as two glass measuring cups, shattered against the wood floor, sending shards and all different kinds of flour about a foot in every direction.

Qrow sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and turning away from the minor disaster. "... see? Let's face it, Summer. I ruin everything. I'm just a--"

"--bad luck charm, right? Well, what if I don't believe in luck?"

When Qrow was silent again and looked away from her, seeming visibly stung, Summer sighed quietly. Perhaps that wasn't the best way to say that: she'd seen more than enough evidence over the years that Qrow's semblance had a habit of being... inconvenient, the most recent entry to that log being the wreckage of wood splinters, shattered glass, ceramic shards, spilled flour, and other various baking debris across the room. She was more than convinced that bad luck could exist as long as Qrow was around. But, of course, she would never, ever say it that way. It wasn't his fault, and he didn't need the negative reinforcement of being verbally reminded.

She stood up, pulling him up and across the room toward the mess. She let go of his hand, waving him to go stand by the sink, as she went for the broom and dustpan in the corner. She started to sweep carefully, trapping the flour and the broken glass and ceramic shards in separate piles, away from the broken shelf.

"... Here, let me get that..." he sighed finally, moving to take the broom from her.

"I've got it." She herded the dangerous part of the mess into the dustpan. "I'm making a point."

"And what point is that?"

"That semblances aren't people. And people aren't their semblances." Summer set the broom aside, picking up the dustpan and holding it out toward him. "See this? This isn't you. You aren't 'just bad luck.' You're family, Qrow. You've been family ever since the day Ozpin called our names in the auditorium. And no amount of bad luck can change that."

Qrow had no response, it seemed, as Summer dumped the mess into the garbage. Whether it was because he couldn't think of one, or because he was still stung by her previous comment, was relatively uncertain.

She put the dustpan away, wandering back to the broken shelf and kneeling down beside the wreckage that remained, digging through the broken shelf pieces. The metal measuring cups and spoons surfaced after a moment, set aside to be rehomed later, and finally, Summer emerged with a pair of small ceramic objects. One was white, broken beyond repair, but the other was clearly a black salt or pepper shaker, shaped like a cat. Everything that had survived was picked up within the front of her apron, the broken shaker tossed away like the other casualties.

"You don't ruin everything," she continued, shaking the survivors out onto the counter beside the sink. She gestured to the measuring cups, the measuring spoons, and then the shaker. "Yeah, it's because some things are just more durable. But maybe some things are just immune to anything unfortunate."

She finally wormed herself between Qrow and the counter to hop up onto it. She caught his face between her hands, turning it to lock their eyes together. "We love you, Qrow. And the kids will too. Yang already does; you're her favorite person in the house right now."

"... I told you, Summer. I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Tai and I have figured out how to plan for any accidents, Qrow. We figured that out after the first several times we 'tripped' during a spar. And this house is so baby-proofed now that I'm not sure anyone could even intentionally hurt themselves in it."

"You'd be surprised."

"At this point, yeah. Yeah I would. I'd be very surprised." Summer reached up to brush Qrow's bangs out of his eyes. "Yang's going to find out about Raven sooner or later, and when she does, she'll have to come to terms with that. She's going to want to know why her mother left. I think it would be easier for everyone if we only had to go through that with one child."

"... You're right," Qrow sighed, casting his eyes down and away.

"... I'm not saying this to hurt you, Qrow. You know that, right? I'm not trying to hurt you, or make you feel guilty. I'm saying this because I want you to think about this before you decide to put more distance between yourself and the rest of the family. I know you love us, and you think that the best way to keep us safe is to stay away, and... well, maybe it is, but... it's not the best thing for you. I can tell you that for certain."

"... But..."

"'But' what?"

"... Y'know what? Nothing." A soft smile finally broke across his face, his eyes brightening up immediately. "'But' nothing."

"There he is," Summer chuckled, leaning in to place a soft smooch on Qrow's forehead before glancing over his shoulder. "Oh, and there's the other one."

Qrow turned around at the sound of shuffling bare feet on the kitchen floor. Their blond teammate was shambling groggily toward the coffee in his brown pajama pants and nothing else; he'd never liked sleeping with a shirt on, and at this point, he avoided doing it so that if he got up to take care of the baby in the middle of the night, he didn't have to worry about her spitting up on his shirt. Taiyang Xiao Long appeared more zombie than man at the moment; he surely wouldn't be at all happy to discover that the coffee was actually decaf.

After several moments, the silence between the more-awake pait punctuated by Taiyang's zoned-out coffee sounds, Qrow glanced up at Summer as he took her hand. "... G'mornin', Tai."

"... Whazzin the oven?" Taiyang asked groggily, finally noticing his dark-haired teammates only as Qrow greeted him.

Before Summer could answer his question properly, Qrow interrupted her, his face now split into a grin like that of a cat who'd eaten several canaries and gotten away with it. "A bun."

"... Wha?"

"Qrow, he's not awake enough for that." She looked over at Taiyang. "Don't mind him, Tai. I'm making apple bread. There's biscuits on the counter."

"And she made muffins."

"Do not touch my muffins, those are for later."

"Yum." He took a slow gulp from his mug, looked confused for a moment, then took another. And another. After about half a cup's worth of this, he finally lowered his cup. "... Why's this decaf?"

Qrow, whose canary-eating grin was slowly taking over more and more of his face, opened his mouth to answer. However, Summer spoke first, and spoke frankly. Probably a blessing for still-groggy Taiyang. "Because I can't have caffeine for awhile."

"Why? Are you pregnant or something?"

Summer put on her best "offended" face. "Well, don't sound so thrilled!"

"Yeah," Qrow interjected. "We thought you'd be more excited to find out Yang's gonna have a little... Well, sibling, I guess, is how we decided we're doing this?"

"You started out so strong." Summer patted the top of Qrow's head. "Nice try."

Three feet away, Taiyang had finally processed the news enough to toss them both a wide smile as he clapped Qrow heavily on the shoulder. "Congrats, guys! That's great news! You two must be so excited!"

"It's all the excitement of having your first kid, mixed with all the certainty of having been raising a kid for over a year. It's great," Qrow joked, rubbing at the spot on his shoulder where Taiyang had gotten him. When Summer threw him a look, he laughed. "I'm serious."

Both of his teammates, apparently, had the same thought at the same time, as that was precisely when they said it. "That's a first."

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I know, everyone's tired of the "Qrow is Ruby's father!" theory. I'm sorry. But I'm all about Qrow being a tragic figure, and being too afraid to even tell his daughter that she's his daughter, keeping his distance because it's the only way to keep her safe, wanting her to be happy with a constant paternal presence, even if it's not him. That is so tragic and I am so here for that.
> 
> The only thing people seem to hate more than "Qrow's Ruby's father!" is "polyamorous Team STRQ." Sorry, but that's in here too. I think it actually diminishes the "big deal" level of the first theory, because biology doesn't necessarily matter in a polyamorous household raising children.


End file.
